Constitutional Court of Ukraine
Encyclopedia
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine is the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine
. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine interprets the Constitution of Ukraine
and decides whether laws and other legal acts are constitutional.
The Court initiated its activity on October 18, 1996. The first Court ruling was made on May 13, 1997.
On urgent matters the Constitutional Court rules within weeks but on matters deemed less urgent it can take months or even longer.
There have been political accusations of attempts to bribe and blackmail Constitutional Court judges in order to get a favourable ruling.
The Court:
The Court's rulings are mandatory for execution in Ukraine, are final and cannot be appealed. Laws and other legal acts, or their separate provisions, that are deemed unconstitutional, lose legal force.
s, appointed in equal shares by the President, the parliament, and the Congress of Judges.
A judge must be a citizen of Ukraine and must have:
Judges are appointed for 9 years without the right of reappointment; moreover each judge is obligated to retire at the age of 65 if this age comes before the end of the 9-year period. The President and parliament are required to fill a vacant position within one month and the Congress of judges has three months to do so. But the appointment comes into effect only after oath of the new judge in the parliament; therefore sometimes it is a problem to become a judge of the Constitutional Court if many members of parliament do not want this (for example, they can physically disturb to hold a meeting of the parliament, that is usual in Ukraine).
The Chairman of the Court is elected by secret ballot for a single three-year term from and by the members of the Court. The current Chairman, Andriy Stryzhak, was appointed on July 10, 2007 following the resignation of Ivan Dombrovskyy
.
The associated explanatory report under the sub-heading of Pressure on the courts expressed concern that
In emphasis the report (item 68) stated
On April 30, on the eve of the Constitutional Court's ruling on the legality of the president's decree dismissing Ukraine's parliament, President Yushchenko, in defiance of the PACE resolution of April 19 intervened in the operation of Ukraine's Constitutional Court by summarily dismissing two Constitutional Court Judges, Syuzanna Stanik and Valeriy Pshenychnyy
, for allegations of "oath treason." His move was later overturned by the Constitutional Court and the judges were returned by a temporary restraining order
issued by the court.
On May 16,Viktor Yushchenko, for a second time, issued another decree dismissing the two Constitutional Court Judges Syuzanna Stanik and Valeriy Pshenychnyy
.
On May 17, the Constitutional Court Chairman Ivan Dombrovskyy
resigns and is replaced by Valeriy Pshenychnyy
.
On May 23, The Constitutional Court of Ukraine acted to prevent the president's undue influence on the court system. The court's ruling was made after Viktor Yushchenko unduly sought to influence the court by illegally firing two Constitutional Court judges Valeriy Pshenychnyy
and Syuzanna Stanik for allegations of "oath treason.".
On July 20 Susanna Stanik won an appeal against the President in the Shevchenko district court of Kyiv. The Court ruled the President's actions illegal and reinstated Ms Stanik's entitlement as a member of Ukraine's Constitutional Court. According to the ruling, the President is obliged to cancel his decree on discharge of Mrs. Stanik.." The other two judges who were also illegally dismissed had previously tendered their resignations and as such were not subject to the courts order.
Following the president's intervention the Constitutional Court still has not ruled on the question of legality of the president's actions.
Stepan Havrsh, the President's appointee to the Constitutional Court, in prejudgment of the courts decision and without authorization from the Court itself, commented in an interview published on July 24
Olexander Lavrynovych, Ukrainian Minister for Justice, in an interview published on August 3 is quoted as saying
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine interprets the Constitution of Ukraine
Constitution of Ukraine
The Constitution of Ukraine is the nation's fundamental law. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes out of 450 votes possible .Other laws and other normative legal acts of Ukraine...
and decides whether laws and other legal acts are constitutional.
The Court initiated its activity on October 18, 1996. The first Court ruling was made on May 13, 1997.
On urgent matters the Constitutional Court rules within weeks but on matters deemed less urgent it can take months or even longer.
There have been political accusations of attempts to bribe and blackmail Constitutional Court judges in order to get a favourable ruling.
Mission and authority
The authority of the Constitutional Court is derived from Ukraine's Constitution - Chapter XIIThe Court:
- on the appeal of the PresidentPresident of UkrainePrior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
, no less than 45 members of the parliamentVerkhovna RadaThe Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...
, the Supreme Court of UkraineSupreme Court of UkraineThe Supreme Court of Ukraine is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.The Court derives its authority from the Constitution of Ukraine, but much of its structure is outlined in legislation...
, the OmbudsmanOmbudsmanAn ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
, or the Crimean parliament, assesses the constitutionality of:- laws and other legal acts of the parliament
- acts of the President
- acts of the Cabinet
- legal acts of the Verkhovna RadaVerkhovna Rada of CrimeaThe Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the 100-member unicameral parliament of the Ukrainian territory the Autonomous Republic of Crimea...
of the Autonomous Republic of CrimeaCrimeaCrimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
(Crimean parliament)
- officially interprets the Constitution and laws of Ukraine
- on the appeal of the President or the CabinetCabinet of Ministers of UkraineThe Cabinet of Ukraine is the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine also referred to as the Government of Ukraine...
, provides opinions on the conformity with the Constitution of international treaties - on the appeal of the parliament, provides an opinion on the observance of the procedure of impeachment of the President
- provides an opinion on the compliance of a bill on introducing amendments to the Constitution with the restrictions imposed by the Constitution.
The Court's rulings are mandatory for execution in Ukraine, are final and cannot be appealed. Laws and other legal acts, or their separate provisions, that are deemed unconstitutional, lose legal force.
Structure
The Court is composed of 18 judgeJudge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s, appointed in equal shares by the President, the parliament, and the Congress of Judges.
A judge must be a citizen of Ukraine and must have:
- attained the age of forty;
- a higher legal education and professional experience of no less than 10 years;
- resided in Ukraine for the last twenty years;
- command of the state language
Judges are appointed for 9 years without the right of reappointment; moreover each judge is obligated to retire at the age of 65 if this age comes before the end of the 9-year period. The President and parliament are required to fill a vacant position within one month and the Congress of judges has three months to do so. But the appointment comes into effect only after oath of the new judge in the parliament; therefore sometimes it is a problem to become a judge of the Constitutional Court if many members of parliament do not want this (for example, they can physically disturb to hold a meeting of the parliament, that is usual in Ukraine).
The Chairman of the Court is elected by secret ballot for a single three-year term from and by the members of the Court. The current Chairman, Andriy Stryzhak, was appointed on July 10, 2007 following the resignation of Ivan Dombrovskyy
Ivan Dombrovskyy
Ivan Petrovich Dombrovskyy is Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine since August 4, 2006 and its Chairman since September 19, 2006. He was elected under the Congress of Judges' quota and is the oldest among the current judges of Constitutional Court...
.
List of judges
- President's quota:
- Volodymyr Kampo (Володимир Михайлович Кампо) since August 4, 2006
- Dmytro Lylak (Дмитро Дмитрович Лилак) since August 4, 2006
- Viktor Shyshkin (Віктор Іванович Шишкін) since August 4, 2006
- Yurij Baulin (Юрій Васильович Баулін) since June 3, 2007
- Sergij Vdovichenko (Вдовіченко Сергій Леонідович) since June 3, 2007
- Yurij Nikitin (Юрій Іванович Нікітін) since June 3, 2007
- Parliament's quota:
- Anatoliy Holovin (Анатолій Сергійович Головін) since August 4, 2006
- Mykhaylo Kolos (Михайло Іванович Колос) since August 4, 2006
- Mariya Markush (Марія Андріївна Маркуш) since August 4, 2006
- Vyacheslav Ovcharenko (В’ячеслав Андрійович Овчаренко) since August 4, 2006
- Petro Stetsyuk (Петро Богданович Стецюк) since August 4, 2006
- Congress of judges' quota:
- Vasyl Bryntsev (Василь Дмитрович Бринцев) since August 4, 2006
- Vyacheslav Dzhun' (В’ячеслав Васильович Джунь) since August 4, 2006
- Anatoliy Didkivskyy (Анатолій Олександрович Дідківський) since August 4, 2006
- Ivan DombrovskyyIvan DombrovskyyIvan Petrovich Dombrovskyy is Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine since August 4, 2006 and its Chairman since September 19, 2006. He was elected under the Congress of Judges' quota and is the oldest among the current judges of Constitutional Court...
(Іван Петрович Домбровський) since August 4, 2006; - Yaroslava Machuzhak (Ярослава Василівна Мачужак) since August 4, 2006
- Andriy Stryzhak (Андрій Андрійович Стрижак) since August 4, 2006 (appointed to the court in 2004, but not sworn in until 2006)
Ukrainian Parliamentary Election, 2007
On April 19 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution in consideration of a report titled Functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine. (Items 13 and 14) stated:The associated explanatory report under the sub-heading of Pressure on the courts expressed concern that
In emphasis the report (item 68) stated
On April 30, on the eve of the Constitutional Court's ruling on the legality of the president's decree dismissing Ukraine's parliament, President Yushchenko, in defiance of the PACE resolution of April 19 intervened in the operation of Ukraine's Constitutional Court by summarily dismissing two Constitutional Court Judges, Syuzanna Stanik and Valeriy Pshenychnyy
Valeriy Pshenychnyy
Valeriy Hryhorovych Pshenychnyy was a President's quota-appointed Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine from February 4, 2003 to May 16, 2007 and it's Chairman since May 17, 2007...
, for allegations of "oath treason." His move was later overturned by the Constitutional Court and the judges were returned by a temporary restraining order
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
issued by the court.
On May 16,Viktor Yushchenko, for a second time, issued another decree dismissing the two Constitutional Court Judges Syuzanna Stanik and Valeriy Pshenychnyy
Valeriy Pshenychnyy
Valeriy Hryhorovych Pshenychnyy was a President's quota-appointed Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine from February 4, 2003 to May 16, 2007 and it's Chairman since May 17, 2007...
.
On May 17, the Constitutional Court Chairman Ivan Dombrovskyy
Ivan Dombrovskyy
Ivan Petrovich Dombrovskyy is Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine since August 4, 2006 and its Chairman since September 19, 2006. He was elected under the Congress of Judges' quota and is the oldest among the current judges of Constitutional Court...
resigns and is replaced by Valeriy Pshenychnyy
Valeriy Pshenychnyy
Valeriy Hryhorovych Pshenychnyy was a President's quota-appointed Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine from February 4, 2003 to May 16, 2007 and it's Chairman since May 17, 2007...
.
On May 23, The Constitutional Court of Ukraine acted to prevent the president's undue influence on the court system. The court's ruling was made after Viktor Yushchenko unduly sought to influence the court by illegally firing two Constitutional Court judges Valeriy Pshenychnyy
Valeriy Pshenychnyy
Valeriy Hryhorovych Pshenychnyy was a President's quota-appointed Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine from February 4, 2003 to May 16, 2007 and it's Chairman since May 17, 2007...
and Syuzanna Stanik for allegations of "oath treason.".
On July 20 Susanna Stanik won an appeal against the President in the Shevchenko district court of Kyiv. The Court ruled the President's actions illegal and reinstated Ms Stanik's entitlement as a member of Ukraine's Constitutional Court. According to the ruling, the President is obliged to cancel his decree on discharge of Mrs. Stanik.." The other two judges who were also illegally dismissed had previously tendered their resignations and as such were not subject to the courts order.
Following the president's intervention the Constitutional Court still has not ruled on the question of legality of the president's actions.
Stepan Havrsh, the President's appointee to the Constitutional Court, in prejudgment of the courts decision and without authorization from the Court itself, commented in an interview published on July 24
Olexander Lavrynovych, Ukrainian Minister for Justice, in an interview published on August 3 is quoted as saying
- On March 25, 2008 Ukraine's Supreme Administrative Court ruled the President's dismissal of Suzanna Stanik as a Constitutional Court judge illegal. Ms Stanik's position has been reinstated. The decision is final and not subject to further appeal
- On April 3, 2008 Stanik was dismissed fro the Court by the order of the President.
- On April 28, 2010 President Viktor YanukovychViktor YanukovychViktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
reinstated Stanik as Constitutional Court judge. She resigned the next day.
Famous and notorious rulings
- December 29, 1999: the Court interpreted the Constitution as unconditionally ruling out capital punishmentCapital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
; this is the date when Ukraine de jure abolished capital punishment after a long period of a de facto moratorium http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=v011p710%2D99 - November 14, 2001: the Court outlawed the institution of propiskaPropiskaPropiska was both a residence permit and migration recording tool in the Russian Empire before 1917 and from 1930s in the Soviet Union. It was documented in local police registers and certified with a stamp in internal passports....
http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=v015p710%2D01 - December 25, 2003: the Court allowed KuchmaLeonid KuchmaLeonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...
to run for presidencyPresident of UkrainePrior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
for the third time (Kuchma chose not to run) http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=v022p710%2D03
Court Contacts
Citizens of Ukraine, noncitizens, people without citizenship and legal entities can only ask the Court for interpretation of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. A written request can be submitted in person or by mail. Court's address is 01033, Ukraine, Kiev, vyl. Zhylyanska, 14. Contact phone is (+380-44)238-1317.See also
- ConstitutionConstitutionA constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
- ConstitutionalismConstitutionalismConstitutionalism has a variety of meanings. Most generally, it is "a complex of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law"....
- Constitutional economicsConstitutional economicsConstitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as extending beyond the definition of 'the economic analysis of constitutional law' in explaining the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the...
- JurisprudenceJurisprudenceJurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
- Rule of lawRule of lawThe rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
- JudiciaryJudiciaryThe judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
- Rule According to Higher LawRule according to higher lawThe rule according to a higher law means that no written law may be enforced by the government unless it conforms with certain unwritten, universal principles of fairness, morality, and justice...